REPORT
The 2024 Top 10 ERP Systems Report
Our experts have highlighted ten vendors that can help your organization make data-driven decisions.
Learn more
Supporting Your ERP System After Go Live
Those of us that have been involved with ERP projects know what it’s like to experience the thrill of an ERP go-live. It’s exciting, confusing, difficult, and full of opportunity, all at the same time. While it may be a huge step in a long battle, it is by...First Step to Successful ERP Implementations: Get Your House in Order
I’ve posted quite a few articles on this blog about how common it is for companies to jump on the ERP bandwagon without first conducting the due diligence and planning required to make a project successful. Many companies do not get their houses in order before...ERP’s Big Bang Theory
One of the difficult decisions of an ERP implementation is the implementation strategy: do you take the big bang approach and get it done with quickly, or do you slowly phase in new processes and technology over time? The answer is that it depends. The appeal of the...Can Technology Hide a Flawed Corporate Strategy?
This may be more of a rhetorical question, but recent web-poll results on our web page begs the question: if a company is struggling with its overall corporate strategy, is technology going to help? First, a bit of background. Our company’s main page has been...ERP Benefits: Myth or Reality?
Many industry leaders, including this one, have published thoughts regarding the evasive nature of ERP benefits. But how real is the issue of ERP benefits realization? To find out, it helps to look into some key statistics from our ongoing ERP benchmark study....Overcoming an Organization’s Resistance to ERP and Change
It’s commonly perceived that people in general don’t like change, and ERP involves quite a bit of change. So that may explain why resistance to change is so common on ERP projects. But is there a way to resolve these change obstacles? The good news is that...Business Benefits of ERP Software
The purpose of this blog has been to focus on ERP benefits realization and ROI, and we’ve all heard stories of companies of all sizes that implement ERP software without realizing the anticipated tangible business benefits. Which led me to wonder: how big of a...Do Small Businesses Need ERP Software?
Ever since the early 1990s, Fortune 500 companies across the world have been on the ERP bandwagon. With millions of dollars required to implement and well-publicized coverage of ERP failures, many wonder if ERP is worth the cost and risk to small businesses. The topic...Why Are ERP Projects Always Over Budget?
Our last post addressed the fact that our ongoing ERP Benchmarking Study reveals that 100% of participants went over budget, most of them by 10% or more. But what we didn’t address is why projects go over budget. I recently blogged about some of the hidden costs...ERP Hosting: Where’s the ROI?
One frequently overlooked area of ERP projects is whether or not to externally host the ERP solution. Since this is a major item that can significantly affect your project’s ROI, it is a decision that should not be taken lightly. Whether or not a hosted ERP...Does ERP Really Lead to Labor Cost Savings?
We’ve all seen the business cases related to how ERP will save X Corporation $X millions of labor costs in just a few short years. But how real are labor cost savings in ERP implementations? The answer is that it depends. Most companies fail to go back and...Including Organizational Change Management in your ERP Project Plan Faciliates Success
A widely known critical success factor for effective ERP or large IT projects is organizational change management. But what exactly is change management, and what key activities should you include in your project plan? Organizational change management means a lot of...Fixing a Failed ERP Implementation
Most of my entries in this blog have focused on proactive measures that can be taken to ensure ERP or IT success. However, what happens if you’re already in the middle of a failed ERP implementation? The good news is that troubled IT implementations can be...Aligning ERP with Your Overall Business Strategy
One of our recent blog entries discussed how to define to-be processes as part of a successful IT implementation. Based on this entry, one reader questioned whether or not this is feasible if the IT project is not aligned with overall business strategy.This reader is...The Politics of ERP Projects
Large ERP and IT projects can be exciting: they can provide new technologies, new business processes, and endless possibilities to organizations that implement them. However, implementing the technologies and overcoming some of the organization’s political...Addressing Cultural Change and Resistance to ERP Projects
It seems that ERP projects always have some type of employee resistance to change, especially in union environments or in companies that have employees with very long tenures with the company. The good news is that if you can recognize this early in the process, you...The Importance of Executive Buy-In on Your ERP Project
One of most important ERP project critical success factors is executive buy-in and support. But what exactly does “buy-in” mean? Approve the funds to get the project going? Or does it mean more than this? Executive buy-in needs to go beyond approving the...It’s Not a Small World After All: Managing Change on International ERP Projects
When implementing ERP software in multiple countries, corporate executives face the issue of managing organizational change in an international environment. For any large change initiative, organizational change management is a challenging and difficult issue to...
